Staff Lab Automation Engineer

ZipRecruiter; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 194,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading precision oncology company is seeking a Staff Lab Automation Engineer to enhance automated workflows in laboratory settings. This role offers the chance to apply and expand your expertise in molecular biology and biochemistry while collaborating in a cutting-edge environment focused on patient care and cancer therapies.

Qualifications

• 8-10 years of related experience for BS, 5-8 years for MS, or 3-5 years for PhD.
• Hands-on experience with operating and programming liquid handling robotics platforms.
• Experience with next-generation sequencing assays and regulated environments.

Responsibilities

• Program, test, troubleshoot, and optimize robotic liquid handling workstations.
• Develop communication protocols for laboratory devices and automation software.
• Mentor Lab Automation Engineers on technical efforts.

Skills

Programming

Problem Solving

Collaboration

Education

BS degree in engineering or science

MS with 5-8 years of experience

PhD with 3-5 years of industry experience

Tools

Agilent Bravo

Hamilton STAR

Brooks PreciseFlex

Job description

Job DescriptionJob DescriptionCompany Description

Guardant Health is a leading precision oncology company focused on guarding wellness and giving every person more time free from cancer. Founded in 2012, Guardant is transforming patient care and accelerating new cancer therapies by providing critical insights into what drives disease through its advanced blood and tissue tests, real-world data and AI analytics. Guardant tests help improve outcomes across all stages of care, including screening to find cancer early, monitoring for recurrence in early-stage cancer, and treatment selection for patients with advanced cancer. For more information, visit guardanthealth.com and follow the company on LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and Facebook.

Job Description

About the Role:

As a Staff Lab Automation Engineer, you will join an innovative group of engineers. You’ll help lead projects in all aspects of reagent and assay automation development, collaborate on obtaining requirements, optimizing automated workflows, troubleshooting, and validating a final workflow. You’ll be able to use and grow your molecular biology and biochemistry knowledge with an eye towards increasing the reliability, throughput, sustainability, and performance of NGS sample processing using advanced liquid handling platforms. You will be working both independently and collaborating with other Automation Engineers and Scientists on a Technology Development team to increase the future capabilities of multiple products.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Laboratory Automation Programming:

• Program, test, troubleshoot, and optimize robotic liquid handling workstations integrated robotic systems
• Build knowledge on hardware and software on multiple types of laboratory automated liquid handlers, such as Hamilton STAR, Agilent Bravo, Lynx among others.
• Program and configure Brooks PreciseFlex robotic arm systems using Guidance Development Environment (nice to have)

Automation Integration:

• Develop and implement communication protocols to facilitate data exchange between laboratory devices and automation software.
• Analyze multi-instrument workflows, identify bottlenecks, and develop solutions to improve efficiency, throughput, cost, and quality.

Collaboration and Communication:

• Lead meetings, deliver presentations and create reports for communicating new product development efforts.
• Prepare documentation for equipment validation and operating procedures and ensure successful lab implementation within a regulated environment.
• Mentor and guide Lab Automation Engineers on technical efforts.
• Take ownership for designing and outlining milestones needed to enable a product or product feature to follow a timeline. Collaborate closely with other development, operation, and quality teams.

Qualifications

• BS degree in engineering or science with 8-10years of related experience, MS with 5-8years of related work experience, or PhD with 3-5 years of industry experience.
• Hands-on experience with operating and programming liquid handling robotics platforms (e.g. Agilent Bravo)
• Experience developing integrated automation systems and workflows.
• Experience working with Brooks PreciseFlex robotic arms (or equivalent).
• Experience developing interfaces between lab automation and Laboratory Information Management (LIMS) databases.
• Experience streamlining workflows, developing automated laboratory processes, and instrumentation systems from designing concepts to process validation and implementation.
• Proficiency in programming such as C#,VB.NET,or Python.
• Knowledge and experience in XML and JSON for data exchange.
• Experience with next- sequencing (NGS) assays and working within regulated environments (IVD, LDT, etc.) .
• Strong communication and collaborative skills
• Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a team with diverse scientific, engineering, operational, and regulatory disciplines.

Additional Information

For positions based in Palo Alto, CA or Redwood City, CA, the base salary range for this full-time position is $140,800 to $193,600. The range does not include benefits, and if applicable, bonus, commission, or equity.

Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including, but not limited to, job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. If you are selected to move forward, the recruiting team will provide details specific to the factors above.

Employee may be required to lift routine office supplies and use office equipment.Majority of the work is performed in a desk/office environment; however, there may be exposure to high noise levels, fumes, and biohazard material in the laboratory environment.Ability to sit for extended periods of time.

Guardant Health is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our hiring processes for candidates with disabilities, long-term conditions, mental health conditions, or sincerely held beliefs. If you need support, please reach out [e-mail]

Guardant Health is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to , , , , , , , or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of .

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

To learn more about the information collected when you apply for a position at Guardant Health, Inc. and how it is used, please review ourPrivacy Notice for Job Applicants.

Please visit our career page at:http://www.guardanthealth.com/jobs/

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